It’s good to know Chuck Pettis and write about the near dozen sacred spaces he’s imagined into reality at the Earth Sanctuary with the help of spiritual advisors.
We are calmed by his presence and kindness, along with his honoring of the natural world, and his deep dedication to cultivating real peace and happiness for all beings.
“I want to lift people up through spirit,” Chuck said, while we sat in his dining room on a sunny afternoon May 1. “These (various meditative way stations at the Earth Sanctuary) are about sacred experience. The highest manifestation of happiness.”
After nearly 50 years of researching and studying sacred spaces around the world, Chuck knew he would someday build an underground chamber at the Earth Sanctuary whose sound resonance would be healing and meditative. Such spaces are called chambered mounds.
Traveling to Maes Howe, a chambered room built into the earth around 2800 BC in Orkney Scotland, Chuck was taken by the power of its resonance and the well-being he felt while inside. He visited a number of other ancient tombs, which, besides being burial sites, also once served as chambers for spiritual gatherings, music and meditation.
“In the early 2000’s I had been to a number of these chamber mounds and I realized they were really important and I wanted to build one,” Chuck said. “I’ve been to Maes Howe three times. Once, I went by myself. Stayed in the Standing Stones Motel. Went to all the sacred places. Maes Howe is the most impressive—hundreds of ancients there—I could feel their presence.”
Historic Environment Scotland describes Maes Howe this way: “From the outside, Maes Howe looks just like a large grassy mound. (The word ‘howe’ comes from the Old Norse for ‘hill’.) To appreciate its size and significance, visitors must enter Maes Howe, stooping to walk its long passageway to reach the central, stone-built chamber. The outside world feels far away, with just a small glint of light entering the tomb.”
Evidence dating back to around 4000 BC suggests that specific architectural designs and materials were used to amplify and manipulate sound, creating spaces for rituals and ceremonies that aimed to induce trance-like states, connect with higher consciousness, and promote healing.
After working with archeoacoustics experts, architects, engineers and navigating Island County’s permit system—for instance, the SoundSpace walls must be built of concrete and not flagstone to comply with earthquake standards, and be ADA compliant—Chuck is ready to start building in 2026.
“We are building a monumental work of art at Earth Sanctuary on Whidbey Island designed to inspire sound and musical exploration, spiritual growth, and healing experiences,” wrote Chuck on the SoundSpace webpage. “SoundSpace will be a chambered mound that evokes feelings of connection, peace, and wonder through the power of sound. Such a sacred place has not been created anywhere in the world for thousands of years.”
Chuck and his son Bre Pettis tested the acoustics in chambered mounds in Scotland with drums and a tone generator. A tone generator sends electrical signals with set properties of amplitude, frequency, and wave shape. Their research guided the design for SoundSpace.
“Some ancient monuments, like the Maes Howe chambered mound in Scotland are known for their remarkable acoustic qualities,” Chuck wrote. “These structures can sustain resonances that make them ideal for chanting…and block out external noise. Research shows that chambered mounds can produce a phenomenon called Helmholtz resonance.”
Helmholtz resonant sound, research suggests, can create a sense of calm and focus for listeners. The concept is fundamental in various fields, including acoustics, engineering, and physics.
Dr. Aaron Watson, an archaeoacoustic expert, recorded and documented evidence of Helmholtz resonance at Maes Howe, and with his colleague David Keating, are consultants for the development and design of the SoundSpace chambered mound.
On his webpage describing the phenomenon, Dr. Watson notes: “Ethnographic accounts suggest that there are many societies, in both past and present, that communicate with ancestral, or spirit worlds, through altered states of consciousness. These states can be achieved in different ways, and some may involve unusual kinds of sound. At Maeshowe it is possible that people could exert a physiological and psychological influence. This results from a phenomenon known as Helmholtz Resonance.”
Dr. Watson, who helped with the SoundSpace design is quoted on the website as noting:“I believe your chambered mound will deliver a performance space which closely reproduces the crucial features of its prehistoric equivalents.”
Sound has the power to connect us to something beyond ourselves,” notes Chuck Pettis on the SoundSpace website. “It can shape the mood of a space, stir emotions, and bring the world around us to life. Inside the quiet and dark chamber, we will create unique soundscapes to spur individual and collective transformation.”
With $650,000 needed to build the structure, an ongoing campaign is out to the community, corporate partners and foundations to help raise funds. Friends of SoundSpace can make tax-deductible donations through the Whidbey Island Arts Council, which serves as an “umbrella” organization offering its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status to Whidbey’s creative community members. To make a donation, visit this secure website.